


Summer Lasts Forever

by actual_iggy



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, M/M, Orphaned AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6182116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actual_iggy/pseuds/actual_iggy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel are put under permanent custody of their grunkles after their parents are killed in a car accident. The twins jump at the chance to go live in their favorite place with their favorite family members and friends, but can't help but wonder why they were drawn so quickly back to Gravity Falls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Second time writing for this fandom! Hope I've done good with the light Fiddauthor and storylines and stuff.

_There was a knock at the door, which the two young teens had been told to not answer, ever when they were home alone, since there shouldn’t be such a thing. Because of the oddity, the boy jumped on his tiptoes to look through the peephole, his sister watching the back of his head from over the back of the couch where she crouched. The boy turned around, face writ with confusion and fear._

_"It's a policeman." He informed his sister, who with an arm motion urged him to open the door, fear in her face too. The policeman asked them their names, cracking a thin smile at how similar they were, and asking, as everyone did,_

_"Are you twins?" To which the siblings, being twins, answered in the affirmative. The next question made them both give each other an uneasy glance, though: "Is there an adult here with you?"_

_"Mom and Dad should be home soon." The girl insisted. "We're almost fourteen, so we're allowed to be home alone."_

_"I don't think your parents are coming home, honey." The policeman said, gently. Was that a hint of yellow glow in his eyes she saw? Surely not, they'd killed him! He wouldn't kill their parents, they killed him first he was dead and gone and killed, he didn't kill them_

_he didn't kill them_

_the demon with the cat pupils and yellow glow didn't kill them..._

* * *

 

Mabel shot up in her bed, gasping with tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked across the room, to the bed where her brother was, then to the foot of her bed where Waddles lay, snorting a little in his sleep.

"Dipper?" She called out, timidly. She was greeted with silence, so she got up. Silently she made her way through the unfamiliar, big house with many more rooms of sleeping... She didn't want to think the word, the word that her and her brother were as of two weeks ago- _orphans._

The officer in her dream, that kind man with the green eyes and dusty brown hair under his blue cap, had told them that there had been a car accident, the combination of drought and rain in California causing the roads to be slick as if with ice. He'd told them that since they had no other relatives (their grandfather Shermie would have taken them, if he weren't in the hospital with some terminal illness Mabel couldn't pronounce), they would be sent to the local group home, until something better came along.

The group home was awful, Mabel thought. Sure, they let her keep Waddles, and share a room with her brother, but otherwise they showed her and the other children little affection and caring, the food was worse than their school lunch food, and worst of all, they called Dipper by his real name instead of Dipper, no matter how many times he corrected them. Mabel went into the storage closet where her and her brother's things were- a suitcase and backpack full of things each, which they could normally access with an adult's supervision, but not take back to their room in case they had a weapon concealed within. She looked through her scrapbook- memories of the previous summer, where they'd all been happy, at their great uncle's house in a tiny Oregon town. Suddenly, she remembered. She flipped through a new book, a notebook, and found it- A page with a photo pasted in and loopy handwriting under it.

"Thanksgiving, 2012: Grunkle Ford let me paint his hand like a turkey, see? It looks good because he has enough fingers to make all the feathers!

He also got a cell phone, and I wrote his number right here so I can call them whenever I want, if Mom will let me use her phone."

She smiled at the number, written in her favorite purple sparkly gel pen, and slipping the notebook up in her nighty so nobody would notice it, she headed back to the room.


	2. Retreival

"Dipper! Dipper!" Mabel's voice rang through her brother's sleep, surprisingly happy, given that their parents had died less than a month ago and they were currently living in an orphan home.

"Ugh, Mabel? What?" The boy asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"I found our way out of here!" She chirped, shoving her notebook in his face. Blearily, he focused on the page.

"That's Grunkle Ford with his hand painted like a turkey." He sighed. The two had started out saying Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford, but now used the terms interchangeably with both.

"No, no! Below that! We have to call the phone number, and then we can go live in Gravity Falls forever with Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford!" Mabel announced.

"Stan gave away the Mystery Shack, Mabel. There's nowhere to stay." Dipper pointed out.

"Even if we don't go back to Gravity Falls, it's gotta be better than here." Mabel said, suddenly solemn. "There's nothing left here, Dipper. We have to leave Piedmont. All we have here is the 'hundred-thousand dollars Dad's family left us with, which we can't get at 'til we're grown anyway..."

"I guess so." Dipper finally agreed. "Mom and Dad were the only reason I didn't stay in Gravity Falls anyway." he then laughed. "Let's go call that number! If we do it before breakfast, everyone'll be busy doing that, so we won't get caught!" Children were not allowed to use the phone at the home, the two knew very well. A summer with their Grunkle Stan, however, had taught them the intricacies of rule-breaking, a skill the man himself would have been proud to know he'd passed on.

* * *

 

The phone buzzed on the nightstand, and a hand reached over and grabbed it, then threw it up at a curve into the bunk above. He knew it'd hit the target when he heard a soft thud and a groan:

"Stanley there was _no_ need-"

"Answer it. It says it's from Piedmont. Might be one of the kids." Grunted Stanley, rolling over to go back to sleep. The other rolled his eyes and answered the phone.

"Hello, Stanford Pines speaking." he greeted.

"Grunkle Ford?" Dipper's voice seemed stressed, but then again, when was the kid not stressed?

"Dipper? Hi, there! How are you and Mabel?"

"You haven't heard yet?"

"About what?" Ford asked, purposefully dangling his feet down right by the other's head and twisting in an effort to kick him awake. He connected with the back of Stan's head and got his foot smacked away.

"Mom and Dad-" Dipper had the phone yanked out of his hands by a very surly woman, who put the phone to her ear.

"Who is this?" She demanded more than asked.

"Put Dipper back on, now." Ford said angrily.

"I asked who this is." She said with a more severe tone.

"I could ask the same of you."

"I am Mrs. Angelina Rodriguez of the Piedmont Orphans' Home. Who are you?"

"Orphans' Home?" Ford exclaimed, getting the other's attention.

"Orphans' Home? Dipper?" He asked, poking his head out of the bunk to look up at the other.

"That is what I said, sir. Now, who are you and why were you speaking with these children?"

"My name is Stanford Pines, I'm Dipper's great uncle, and I'm coming to get them." Ford announced, hanging up. He flopped on his stomach to talk to his companion. "How fast can we get to Piedmont?"

"Well, think about it, Ford. We're in San-Fran bay." the other explained. "I'd say a half-hour drive."

"Then let's go get Dipper and Mabel."


	3. Reuniting

"Kids, wait here." the social worker instructed Dipper and Mabel, who stood with their suitcases and backpacks. Mabel's sweater of the day was her classic shooting star one and Dipper wore the hat he'd swapped with Wendy before last summer was up. They stood, worried as to their fates, in the front room of the home. They'd been told that they had an adoptive family coming to get them, and that no, they had no choice in the matter, since they were minors, and 'yes, Mabel, even if they want to move to Beijing, you have to go with them.' Not to mention that whoever adopted them would get their inheritance money, put into place by their father to provide for the children if something happened to him and pay for their college if nothing did.

Meanwhile, in a separate room, the grunkles were grilled on their ability to care for the two teens.

"Where would they live?" The man asked.

"Our permanent home is with my best friend, you may have heard of him, the inventor Fiddleford McGucket. He lives in a large home overlooking the quiet town of Gravity Falls. The kids already have lived a summer with Stanley there, and they have friends in the town." Ford answered.

"Both of you are unmarried?"

"Yes." Ford said with a slight hesitation. He well recalled a certain legal marriage document in his name made by his brother in Vegas.

"Are you two aware of their inheritance?"

"Inheritance? Like money?" Stan asked, keenly interested. He got elbowed in the side by his brother. "Ow! Hey, I want these kids with all I've got, and it's even better if we're basically getting paid to take 'em!"

"Their father left in his will a grant of one hundred thousand dollars for a family to provide to his children if something were to happen to him in their childhood."

"We'll put it away for their college education." Ford assured the man, shooting a glare at his twin, who stuck his tongue out.

"Alright... I can't really find any other reason why the children wouldn't be better off under your custody, so we'll send the paperwork to the court in Roadkill County, and let them process it. The children have outfits and belongings, and are waiting for you in front." The man said, finally.

* * *

 

"Dipper, look!" Mabel said, suddenly. Her brother looked up from the photo album they had on their laps, startled, to see his two great-uncles holding out their arms and grinning. Each kid ran into one man's arms, Dipper to Ford and Mabel to Stan.

"You came for us! You really did!" Mabel nearly sobbed. Stan petted her hair to soothe her.

"You think we'd leave you two to rot in foster care?" He asked with mock-astonishment.

"We were just outside San Francisco when you called." Ford explained. "We decided to come get you two as soon as we could, since we're your only viable relatives." He briefly shook his head. "Poor Shermie, always was so sickly..."

"Ehh, it's 'cuz he never got to grow up around me." Stan snorted.

"W-Where are we gonna go? Where are we gonna stay?" Dipper asked in amazement. The nightmares of the last two weeks melted away to the back of his mind.

"You'll stay mostly with Fiddleford in Gravity Falls. Maybe sometimes you can come on searches with us, if you promise to behave!" The man answered, smiling. "For now, we're taking a break from searching to help you two get settled, right, Stanley?"

"Yeah. Alright." Stan agreed.


	4. Settling In

Ford shushed the other three as they entered the former Northwest Manor via a spare key. He slipped into a room full of mechanical parts and things, and then to the figure working with his torso in some compartment of some sort. 

"Hey, FIDDLEFORD!" He called out, almost gleefully and quite loudly. The man jumped and there was a dull clunk as his head collided with the equipment. 

"God dangit, Ford! Thirty years and you still get me with that every single time!" The old man complained, rubbing his head which rather than a tattered old hat now had a straw hat on it. At least it was a new one. He also looked a lot cleaner and more well-kempt then the last time the kids had seen him. 

"Maybe someday you'll wear a helmet." Laughed Ford, fondly shoving his friend's shoulder. 

"I told you once and I told you a million times, I don't like how a helmet messes with my view!" 

"Then I sense many more bumps to come." 

Stan rolled his eyes at this display. "Anyway, Fidds, we brought some gremlins. They live here now." he said casually. 

"Gremlins!" Cheered Mabel as Dipper sighed and shook his head. 

"You guys're visiting again?" Fiddleford asked. His speech seemed to be less thickly accented then the previous summer as well, likely a side effect of his returning sanity. Ford had mentioned how much the man hated sounding like a small-town hick. 

"We live here now." Dipper explained. "Mom and Dad got in an accident a few weeks ago and Stan and Ford came to adopt us from the group home three days ago, since they're our only family left now." 

"Shouldn't you be more upset? All your friends, your old school, your old house, gone forever?" The old man wondered, scratching his head. 

"We had time to be upset in the group home." Mabel said with an uncharacteristic bitterness to her voice. She immediately cheered back up. "But, since it's just about summer, we only have to transfer to the school here for a little while before it's out!" 

"We were talking about that on the way down, Mabel." Ford told her, smiling. "We thought that, after this summer, if you and Dipper want to travel with Stanley and I, we can homeschool you. Between the three- er... at least two of us, you should learn all you need to know." 

Stan gave his brother a mock-offended look, and then shoved him hard in the chest, about knocking him over. "I'll be the hands-on teacher! You guys'll learn all of the stuff you need to know to survive in the world!" 

The kids looked a little nervous at the prospect of being given life lessons by their notoriously criminal great uncle, but soon were excited again as they were granted permission from Fiddleford to pick out any one or two rooms they wanted to stay in. They ended up on the second story, in an attic room. It felt familiar in a summery way. 

"All that's missing is a Bill Cipher-shaped window." Dipper remarked, looking out the round one the room offered. 

"I can paint a triangle on it if it'll make you feel better." Mabel offered, producing a box of tubes of paint from her suitcase. "I have paints with glitter in them!" 

"I don't need any more nightmares, but thanks!" He laughed. Soon, the kids had all their posters and everything up in the room, had covered up a large sparkly red paint splotch with a rug, and it was dinner time. Hearing Stan call for them, familiarly loud and muffled by the floor, the twins smiled at each other and headed down the stairs. 

 


End file.
